Ready, Set, Grow: Preparing Your Organization for the Upcoming Surge in Business

Last week, the WSJ featured a story about a guy named Tommy Bonfiglio, a New Jersey lawyer, and the owner of three taverns, who is expanding his restaurant business big time.

By June, he’ll have 10 locations, and his employee count will go from 350 to 1,100.

While many restaurant chains are contracting and are looking for rent concessions, Bonfiglio is moving forward, full speed ahead. He saw an opportunity to grab prime locations from landlords who, in the past, wouldn’t have given him a chance, and he’s expanding like crazy.

Here are a few things I love about this story.

Bonfiglio is thinking big.

He’s not wasting time trying to wrestle landlords into giving him a deal. Instead, he’s agreed to market rates on long-term leases.

He’s building partnerships with these people and is in it for the long run.

 “I didn’t wait for the stores to get offered,” says Bonfiglio. “I targeted the landlords saying, ‘You have a bad tenant. You’re going to have a problem with them.’”

As a result, he’s managed to secure some of the most high-profile, high-traffic locations in the state of New Jersey.

Bonfiglio is laying the foundation for a restaurant empire. While others are working from home, he’s renting a corporate office and is poaching industry veterans from their employers.

Bonfiglio’s talent strategy is brilliant! I mean, think about it. 

You’re the director of training, and you’re working for a company that’s not doing so well. You get a call from a guy like Bonfiglio, who puts his money where his mouth is. He tells you about his expansion plans and then invites you to come along for the ride.

Who in their right mind would turn down an offer like this?

As Bonfiglio can attest, the time to be preparing for the recovery is now—not six months from today.

You need to have a fully staffed workforce that is also well trained so that you can take advantage of the many opportunities that will be unfolding in front of you.

Here are some things you can do to get your organization ready for major success.

Let’s start with assessing your entire team. You’ve certainly had plenty of time to evaluate who is performing well and who isn’t. Now it’s decision time.

Is it worth your time and money to give people who aren’t pulling their weight a second chance, or are you just kidding yourself?

 I think you already know the answer. What’s preventing you from moving forward?

There is an abundance of talent out there due to no fault of their own, which makes now the perfect time to upgrade your workforce. That being said, there’s also a ton of companies looking to hire these people as well.

What differentiates you from everyone else? Don’t know? Now’s the time to find out.

Have a brief conversation with some of your more recent hires. Ask them what about your company made them decide to say yes to your offer. Then, be sure the language you use in your employer branding and in your recruitment materials reflects what people say.

Be sure all hiring managers are proficient in the art of interviewing. Just because someone has been given the title of manager doesn’t mean they know how to assess candidates properly.

Employee selection is one of the most essential duties of a manager and yet, rarely are leaders trained in this vital skill.

At the end of this month, I’ll be training hiring managers at The Greater Boston Food Bank on how to Select for Success. I’m excited about this opportunity to work with some of the most exemplary leaders in our great city and feel good about the fact that I’m part of their mission to end hunger.

What kind of score would you give your hiring managers in terms of employee selection? My guess is, there's room for improvement.

Don’t wait for talent to come to you. Go after what you need. Don’t delegate hiring to HR. Instead, teach your hiring managers how to source their candidates. After all, these managers know best in terms of who in the industry is worth pursuing.

Like Bonfiglio, I’m a proponent of poaching talent.

When I first started in this business, I used to reach out to gainfully employed people to convince them to consider coming to work for my client.

Now before you dismiss this idea as being unethical, consider this. The people who were truly happy in their jobs politely declined to go any further. The rest took me up on my offer.

Here’s your assignment for this week. Pull your management team together to discuss how to prepare the organization for a surge in business. What specific steps do you need to take to guarantee you’re fully staffed? What kind of training is required to ensure people can do their jobs proficiently? Can this training be done internally, or do you need to find an external partner?

As always, if you’ve got questions or if you’d like to bounce some ideas off of me, let’s schedule a call. And if you’d like a complimentary copy of my special report on Poaching Talent, email me at [email protected], tell me your biggest challenge in terms of hiring, and put “Poaching Talent” in the subject line.

Here's to a year where profits rise!